On the Ferries

[ozbob]

Couriermail  --> Cr Jono Sri protests weak public transport in Brisbane

Kangaroo Point residents protest public transport 'failure'

More than 100 residents were joined by Cr Jonathan Sri to protest the "unexplained" closure of a ferry stop in Kangaroo Point and the "systemic failure" of the suburb's public transport network.

Councillor for the Gabba Ward, Jonathan Sri helped lead a protest Saturday morning in front of a 100-strong crowd angered by the closure of a ferry stop in Kangaroo Point.

Last July, the Dockside ferry stop was closed by Brisbane City Council 'with no explanation' according to local commuters.

Council announced last year the temporary closure was due to mandatory upgrades for accessibility in line with legislation, namely the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA).

While organisers welcome the upgrades which introduce minimum accessibility requirements to public infrastructure such as ramps, access paths and boarding devices; they say they have been left in the dark with no idea when services would resume from the stop. ...

[achiruel]

The council has variously claimed the closure is due to incompatibility with the KittyCats, or for DDA upgrades, but can't give even an approximate date for reopening? 

I suggest they have no intention of reopening it, nor of ever resuming services of the wooden monohull ferries.

[BrizCommuter]

https://twitter.com/TransLinkSEQ/status/1392721270463074304

I've seen up to 3 ferries queuing to get into South Bank 3 in the last week. Must be affecting on time running.

[SurfRail]

It's one of the few pontoons left without dual-berthing so that's not a surprise.

[Cazza]

Especially when the city cats are pretty much timetabled to meet at South Bank.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/ljstone09/status/1404911056388907012

[#Metro]

But why? They are ancient and should be put in the maritime museum!
Are they even DDA compliant?

[verbatim9]

BCC should restore them with electric motors instead of diesel ones. Sydney is electrifying it's smaller cross harbour ferry routes

[verbatim9]

@zonca Has the tender been finalised? Could the old wooden ferries be converted to electric? @bne_lordmayor  https://t.co/w3FKDdSK5v #electricferry #zeroemissions

https://twitter.com/verbatim18/status/1405018916678680578

[ozbob]

https://www.facebook.com/100000357543750/videos/1985193481627949/

https://twitter.com/TransFixSEQ/status/1409345608033325056

[verbatim9]

[#Metro]

The more stops that are added, the slower the service will become.

Is this going to be a CityCat or KittyCat stop? I think KittyKat would be appropriate.

[Ari 🚋]

The more stops that are added, the slower the service will become.

Is this going to be a CityCat or KittyCat stop? I think KittyKat would be appropriate.

If it ends up as a CityCat stop it might be worth council looking into an express pattern - the CityCats aren't that zippy as-is, and I can't imagine bloat will make them any more attractive to riders

[nathandavid88]

A development application has been lodged for a brand spanking new ferry terminal at Dockside. The Planning Report says that new terminal is anticipated to be used by KittyCat vessels, but will be designed to be compatible with KittyCat, CityCat and Monohull vessels "if required subject to network considerations".

https://developmenti.brisbane.qld.gov.au/DocumentSearch/GetAllDocument?applicationId=A005856108

[James]

The more stops that are added, the slower the service will become.

Is this going to be a CityCat or KittyCat stop? I think KittyKat would be appropriate.

If it ends up as a CityCat stop it might be worth council looking into an express pattern - the CityCats aren't that zippy as-is, and I can't imagine bloat will make them any more attractive to riders

BCC has gone out to consultation recently to gauge sentiment around timetable changes with the introduction of the stop at HSW. Having taken the survey myself, I expect to see the introduction of a consistent express / all stops pattern on CityCat services. Whether this means we'll see more peak-hour SpeedyCats or a full time SpeedyCat I'm not sure.

I agree re: stops, that I hope this will be it for additional stops. This said, the CityCat is not a service you would ride end-to-end.

[Cazza]

This said, the CityCat is not a service you would ride end-to-end.

At least it chews up a bit of time showing the interstate grandparents around Brisbane!

[achiruel]

I agree re: stops, that I hope this will be it for additional stops. This said, the CityCat is not a service you would ride end-to-end.

Why on earth not? I've done exactly that numerous times, and a few even back the whole way again. It's quite a nice trip on a fine spring or summer evening!

[Cazza]

I think he's referring to it in a commuting sense. It's nearly 90 mins end to end, no one is going to genuinely use it to get from Northshore or even Bretts Wharf, Teneriffe or Bulimba to UQ.

[pionsix]

New ferry timetables are now on the TransLink website (Digital timetables only - pdf not uploaded).

7 News clip:

From my first look:
- Effective Mon 13th December
- Howard Smith Wharves terminal open and served by CityHopper and Kangaroo Pt ferry extension
- New South Bank terminal open and used by all services (CityHopper/CityCat).
- CityHopper/Kangaroo Pt ferry times shifted to be more clockface but no changes to frequency or span.
- CityCat also moved to clockface timetable.
- New "NightCat" (CityCat 15min frequency extended on Friday/Sat night until 23:15 departures rather than current 30min from 20:15 with last at 22:15)
- Major changes to express CityCat services. Now only single split express stopping pattern both only operating in CBD peak direction.
    Eastern: Apollo Rd - Brett's Wharf - Bulimba - Hawthorne - Riverside
    Western: QUT - North Quay - Regatta - Guyatt Park - West End
- Eastern express is every 15min from 07:01 - 09:01 inbound and 16:05 - 18:20 outbound.
- Western express is inconsistent headway between 15-30min (06:50, 07:20, 07:43, 08:13, 08:28 | 16:20, 16:35, 17:05, 17:20, 17:50).

My thoughts:
Winners:
- QUT
- Bulimba Peninsula

Losers:
- UQ (Although I support the changes as UQ express services were a massive waste of resources from my observations)
- Northshore Hamilton
- Less emphasis placed on Teneriffe 60 connection.

Edit 2021-12-09: Renamed expresses from northern/southern to eastern/western

[ozbob]

^ thanks pionsix, nice post. 

[ozbob]

[SteelPan]

So where are the long awaited Nightlink KittyKat services for the inner-city river crossing?   

So called "NightLink" Citycats run 'til...wait for it.....Midnight!!!!  Uhhmmm Brissy, still stuck in the 1970's it seems!

Just run ferries ALL Night on Friday and Saturday and stop "Olympic City" stuffing us all about!   

[Cazza]

So where are the long awaited Nightlink KittyKat services for the inner-city river crossing?   

It's under the name "Kangaroo Point Green Bridge" - that'll provide a 24/7 connection between KP and the CBD.

Kangaroo Point can't even get a regular off-peak bus service so a nightlink ferry is very optimistic of you.

[SteelPan]

  good one....now, back to a thing called reality...not mythical bridges not even started yet...now, about those Nightlink Cross River Ferries for the modern world.....

[Cazza]

Well considering construction is going to start within months and it's going to be open in about 2 years, I'm not sure how mythical you think this bridge is and how much closer to reality I can really be... :conf

https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/traffic-and-transport/roads-infrastructure-and-bikeways/green-bridges/kangaroo-point-green-bridge

[SteelPan]

Hmmmm, why so scared about ferries crossing the river after Midnight, monsters?  I'm told the River's got plenty of Bull Sharks, but a growing city, with already around 2.2mn and planning to host an Olympics in about a decade.....it's just ferries?   :conf

Many cities, they have...wait for it...traffic bridges, pedestrian bridges AND ferries running...radical I know!  Now you've got me thinking....I hope the trains don't scared going through tunnels ever!   

[pionsix]

Council Transport Committee presentation on ferry changes released (30th Nov meeting):
https://docs.brisbane.qld.gov.au/Council%20and%20Committees/2021/December/7%20December%202021/Confirmed%20Committee%20Minutes%20and%20Presentation%20(30%20Nov%202021)/Transport%20-%20Presentation%20-%20Ferry%20Network%20Review%20-%2030%20Nov%202021.PPTX

Some nice graphics and information in it.

One thing I didn't notice in my previous post is that the Kangaroo Pt ferry operates differently from CityHopper.
Kangaroo Pt ferry: Holman St - Riverside - Howard Smith Wharves
CityHopper: - Riverside - Holman St - Howard Smith Wharves
So paying customers get a faster trip from Riverside.

[James]

Glad to see that HSW will be a CityHopper stop, rather than slowing down all the CityCats to funnel people into a bar which is walking distance from Riverside anyway.

I think the timetable change is a net positive, what's been undersold is that CityCats now run every 15 minutes until 8:30-9pm on every night of the week except Sunday.

The old SpeedyCats also ran on different headways to the 15 minute frequency of the core network and seemed to be thrown in wherever. The ones on the western side were grossly underused as they often ran right behind an all-stops service and missed the second busiest western terminal (Regatta). Now it's been fixed, new services can now be added either side of the peak as needed, and hopefully the express services see more use.

[brissypete]

New South Bank Ferry Terminal now open, so much nicer.

Sent from my SM-G991B using Tapatalk

[ozbob]

^ nice 

Thanks for the photgraphs.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/bne_lordmayor/status/1470872662633189381

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/bne_lordmayor/status/1472768397133762562

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/TransLinkSEQ/status/1478486402824237057

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/JoeDoesNews/status/1497751316910972928

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/ryansrumblings/status/1498420757390524417

[verbatim9]

It's great that Straddie is getting a new Pontoon at Dunwich from the SEQ City deal. I believe the current one cannot cater for multiple vessels.

[verbatim9]

Wow, CM reports that the new Straddie upgrade will support a cruise terminal as well

Rundown Straddie port to get $41m facelift with plans for cruise ship terminal

[verbatim9]

Couriermail.com.au--> Dates revealed for return of Citycats to the river

CityCats services will resume in three stages starting from next month. Here's when, and where, you can jump on board.

Brisbane's Citycat and KittyCat fleet will return to the River in a three-stage process starting from April 4.

Initially there will be only two cross-river services at critical points, using CityCats instead of the smaller KittyCats.

But a full return to "normal'' will take months, with several terminals needing to be cleared of debris, repaired, or replaced.

Eight CityCats were also damaged and the Beenung-Urrung sank after being struck by a houseboat.

The Kuluwin suffered heavy damage and all four KittyCats had to be assessed for damage.


Council's Transport Chair, Councillor Ryan Murphy, said there had been a significant effort to clean a huge volume of debris.

[Matt]

https://twitter.com/ljstone09/status/1404911056388907012

I was speaking to a ferry skipper just a few days before the floods, he said the wooden ferries definitely were not coming back.

[Matt]

The council has variously claimed the closure is due to incompatibility with the KittyCats, or for DDA upgrades, but can't give even an approximate date for reopening? 

I suggest they have no intention of reopening it, nor of ever resuming services of the wooden monohull ferries.

Was down there a couple of days before the floods, the Dockside Terminal is sitting shut with no sign of anything happening. Sad